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Zephon
Zephon is one of the villains from the video games Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver ''and ''Soul Reaver 2. He is one of Kain's vampire sons and lieutenants, and as such, Zephon rules over one of the regions of the apocalyptic Nosgoth. In life he was formerly one of the Sarafan vampire hunter commanders. In both of his lives Zephon was brought into opposition against the wraith Raziel for different, albeit related, reasons. Zephon was voiced by the late Tony Jay, who also voiced several other Legacy of Kain characters: Mortanius the Necromancer and the Hylden Lord from Blood Omen, and most notasebly The Elder God from Soul Reaver, Soul Reaver 2 ''and ''Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Personality Not much is known about Zephon during his human years, although it can be expected that he was curageous and highly devoted to the Sarafan cause. He was at last heroic enough to break into Janos Audron's aerie refuge and assist in his assassination. He was likewise unphazed by the wraith Raziel breaking into the stronghold and refused to let him pass, thus leading to his death in combat. As a vampire lieutenant Zephon was ruthless and utterly devoted to Kain as he did not even protest against Raziel's mutilation and punishment. After having finally mutated into the gargantuan arachnid abomination, Zephon personally became far more self-indulgent, delusional and ruthless. In his gargantuan size Zephon would refer to any and all creatures smaller than himself (minus Kain) as "insects" and viewed them as nothing more than potential food. He reveled in his monstrous form, seeing it as being the ultimate trap from which no creature could escape. He likewise found it humorous and ironic that the former human weapon, as in the Silenced Cathedral, had became his body. According to Raziel Zephon's monstrous body was nothing more than a reflection of his cowardice, implying that Zephon was in actuality a skeemer who often avoided fair and direct fights. Zephon was likewise dismissive towards any arguments and criticisms towards his appearance, as shown when Raziel mocked him. Biography Soul Reaver 2 Zephon was formerly a Sarafan Inquisitor who hunted down vampires, as ordered by Moebius. He, alongside his fellow inquisitors Malek, Melchiah, Turel and Raziel was responsible for the death of Janos Audron, the last of the original Ancestors of the vampires. He watched as inquisitor Raziel plucked out the heart of Janos and was terrified to notice its ghastly appearance. After leaving with Janos' black heart and the Reaver blade back to the Sarafan Stronghold, the inquisitors are followed by an unexpected assailant: a time-travelling Raziel, who became a wraith in the distant future had become disillusioned with his former self after witnessing his past life's cruelty and having ganied respect towards Janos Audron nobility. Zephon and Melchiah are the first of the Sarafan to be killed by the wraith Raziel. With the Sarafan inquisitor's deaths Raziel performs a predestined time paradox through which Kain would have the corpses needed in the future to raise his undead lieutenants. Zephon, alongside Melchiah, Rahab, Turel, Dumah, Raziel and Malek, where later martyred by the Sarafan Order, with one room in particular in the stronghold honoring their memory with murals. Five-hundred years later, Moebius and his new army of vampire hunters would honor the Sarafan as savior figures and utilize their stronghold as a base of operations. Legacy of Kain: Sould Reaver Approximately one thousand two hundred years later, when Kain rises his vampiric empire, he resurrects the five remaining Sarafan Inquisitors as his lieutenants, but does not reveal to them their past history. Zephon was the second last to be ressurected, thus making him the second weakest of the lieutenants, directly before Melchiah. After having served their master for a thousand years, the lieutenants began exhibiting new vampiric powers and their bodies began changing into more monstrous forms, just as Kain also had evolved. Zephon developed the ability to scail vertical surfaces akin to a spider. He was present at the meeting where Raziel, first-born of Kain's lieutenants, displayed to Kain his own evolution: a pair of batwings. After Raziel had been thrown into the abyss and labeled as a traitor for having surpased Kain in evolution, all the vampire clans scattered throughout Nosgoth. Zephon and his clan moved to the Silenced Cathedral, a large towering structure built by humans to destroy the vampires. Zephon crawled his way to the top of the structure, where he created a hive and mutated into a large spider-like creature that could never leave the chatedral as he burrowed deep indise its foundation. Despite his immobility he wasn't recquired to leave the cathedral in search of food since anyone unfortunate enough to enter the building would easily fall on Zephon's web and become his food. Zephon's clan, named the Zephonim, evolved themselves into arachnid humanoids who could crawl on vertical surfaces and would devour their prey by desiccating them inside their webbing. After Raziel arose from the abyss as a wraith, he immediately started pursuing his bretheren for revenge. He went after Zephon second, making his way through the highest tower of the Silenced Cathedral. As the two meet Raziel remarks how Zephon became a fine reflection of his own dark and cowardly soul. Zephon merely mockingly answers that Raziel was no longer Kain's handsome son anymore and that he would become just another one of his prey. Zephon attacks Raziel with his claws, which Raziel destroys with his wraith blade or claws. Raziel then grabs some of Zephon's cocoons and lit them on fire, throwing them at Zephon, who is caught on fire and is roasted to death. Raziel then proceeded to devour Zephon's soul, which in turn, gave Raziel the ability crawl on vertical surfaces just as Zephon's children could. Powers and Abilities 'Martial Training '- As a Sarafan Inquisitor Zephon was highly trained in martial arts, usually involving weapons such as swords and spears. He was often shown using a standard Sarafan double-edged sword, although the full range of his talents were never shown. In addition to his obvious superior strength, reflexes, resilience and agility, he was possibly even a great tactician who often employed traps to ensnare vampires. 'Vampire Physiology -' As a vampire gifted with Kain's cursed blood Zephon benefitted from enhanced strength, agility, endurance, reflexes and speed, but as a drawback he was weak towards the standard vampire weaknesses: sunlight, impalement, fire and water, which was acidic to vampires. After having evolved Zephon developed some resistence towards most weaknesses, sunlight did not affect him as badly as it did his clan and impalement became impossible after having transformed into a his eventual giant form. Zephon was, however, especially sensitive towards fire, which ultimatelly became his greatest weakness. Like all higher vampires Zephon could turn other humans into vampires by spreading their curse by means of biting their victims. : 'Zephonim Traits -' Kain had turned Zephon into a vampire by having poured a portion of his soul insie the former Sarafan's corpse. Because Zephon had been the second last to be turned by Kain into a vampire he was naturally weaker than most of his brethren, except for Melchiah who was the very last to have been turned. Although weaker than his older brothers he was still strong enough to take on most humans. His most notable powers were his unique claws that allowed him to climb nearly any surface and his ability to produce spiderweb. The full range of Zephon's powers came after centuries of further evolution. His body grew to such enormous proportions that it covered the interior of a large cathedral's bellfrey. At that point he was only vaguely human in appearance, his chest and pelvic areas were himan in appearance but very thin to the point of being skeletal. Inside the tower he could block the entrance with a thick membrane and would lunge at his prey using tall claws that had replaced his hands entirely. In this form Zephon could produce cocoones from which he birthed new Zephonim vampires. Despite its stature, this body proved to be easily delt with by means of burning it. Trivia *Like with all of the Sarafan Inquisitors, and subsequently Kain's lieutenants, Zephon has a Biblical origin to his name. In the Jewish Bible, Zephon, which tanslates as "A Looking Out", was a cherub sent by Gabriel and Ithuriel to discover Satan's location, but instead sided with the devil in his rebellion against heaven. After the devils had lost the war, Zephon was cast out of Heaven and instead became one of the fallen angels who would fan the flames of Hell. *Zephon is never seen in Soul Reaver 2 without his helmet off, however his mural inside the Sarafan stronghold showed that he was a red-head in life. As a vampire Zephon had black hair. *During the development of Soul Reaver, Zephon was given the placeholder titles of "Wallcrawler" and "Wallcrawler Boss" on account of his clan's powers. Navigation Category:Legacy of Kain Villains Category:Video Game Villains Category:Game Bosses Category:Vampires Category:Deceased Category:Mutated Category:Arrogant